21

Saw "21" yesterday. Had heard about it before as the basis of the recent Bollywood release "Teen Patti". Don't know how far that was true but "21" was a decent watch.

It is a based-on-real-life story about a group of MIT students who under the tutelage of their professor become experts in card counting and subsequently whip Vegas casinos for millions in winnings at blackjack. The movie is based on a book about the episode and released in the US in 2008.

It stars Kevin Spacey as the wily professor who uses his students to milk the system. Jim Sturgess stars in the lead role as Ben Campbell, the brilliant new inductee into the club who needs money to go to Harvard Medical School. Laurence Fishburne has a small role as the security-in-charge at the casinos who is being made obsolete by the new face recognition software that casinos are using. Kate Bosworth forms Jim's love interest and is a member of the MIT Blackjack team.
Kevin Spacey is, as always, interesting to watch while Jim Sturgess puts in a slightly uneven performance.

The movie though interesting, is not as gripping as it could have been. There are no major shocks or edge-of-the-seat moments. The dialogues are banal. Also many characters are under-utilised or not fully developed. For instance, there is a lot of focus on Jim Sturgess but his evolution from shy student to arrogant gamester is not brought out very well. Kevin Spacey's motives are also not very well developed and his chracter is uni-dimensional. The other members are also all conveniently sidelined. Laurence Fishburne is wasted in his bit role.
Basically threre is very little layering to the movie, very little subtext. Also not much style or snappy dialogues. Despite being a subject which could have been handled on so many levels it almost gets reduced to another typical teenager movie. It is the basic premise which is interesting and curiosity about the end keeps you going.

Give it a 6.5/10.